As with all chapters in this book, the objective is to understand the strategic implications of HR programmatic activities through grounding in the law, concepts, and practices associated with them. In this case, you should begin with the strategic plan of the organization and understand how the various employment practices facilitate its achievement. It is not enough to know the basics of recruitment or job analysis or workforce planning in isolation. The SPHR must approach the study of these and other concepts through an integrative approach understanding the interdependencies. You should attempt to understand how workforce planning, EEO strategies, recruitment, selection, organizational exit, and so forth are must be integrated into one comprehensive strategy that support the organizational goals and mission. You should also approach the study of this material by attempting to understand the interdependency of the various sections and the practices discussed in them. For example, how does workforce planning affect recruitment strategies, affirmative action plans, and exit strategies?

Introduction

Objective: Gain a Strategic Understanding of Workforce Planning and
Employment

There are a number of dynamics that increasingly make workforce planning and
employment critical components of the organization’s strategic plan. The
United States economy has transitioned from a manufacturing base to a service
base and is in the process of transitioning to a knowledge base. As the economy
moves along this continuum, the success of the organization is increasingly
based on the quality of its human capital, which is defined as the
total current and potential capabilities of the organization’s workforce.
As this transition occurs, organizational strategies increasingly must be
developed to develop the organization’s primary resource: people. The
quality of its human capital will allow an organization to differentiate itself
in the market place, much as innovative products and services now do. In fact,
for many organizations, human capital will become their core
competency—the unique capability that distinguishes them from their
competitors. To create this competency, an organization must be able to attract
the right kinds of people in the right place at the right time.

The nature of competition has changed and is global. Markets and environments
are frequently dynamic and volatile, and organizations have been downsized and
right-sized to improve cost efficiencies. Globalization requires the
organization to understand multiple cultures and how to attract, retain, and
motivate persons from those cultures. The dynamics of the environment often
require flexibility and adaptation at the lower levels of the organization. All
this affects the workforce planning and employment practices.

Technology has not only changed the way work is done, it has also changed the
knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the work. Organizations must plan
to either attract those with the right skills to the organization or to develop
those skills internally. The latter requires hiring individuals who have the
capacity to learn and to grow.

Workforce demographics in the United States are changing. The workforce is
aging and contains an increasing percentage of both women and members of
minority groups. In addition, workers often come to the organization with
deficient skill sets. The organization must plan how to replace the impending
retirement of the "Baby Boomers" while developing the skills of those
that follow.

The organization must be actively engaged in planning to determine how to
react to the dynamics just discussed to develop an internal workforce that is
capable of accomplishing the organization’s strategic goals. That is the
essence of workforce planning and employment.